The Shins are your favorite band you probably haven't heard yet. Since their 2001 debut Oh, Inverted World on Sub Pop Records they have been poised to be the next big thing. With their new album, Chutes Too Narrow, The Shins catchy pop melodies are so infectious the World Health Organization should issue a warning. I caught up with singer James Mercer right after he found out his identity had been stolen, or at least I think it was him...

Missy Suicide: I heard the new album and I am in love with it. It seems like the songs are more solid and the album has more of a narrative overall then your first one.

James Mercer: It is a more solid album. It is better recorded than Oh, Inverted World.

MS: Did the success of your first album afford you the luxury of better recording equipment for this album? Or more experience, what do you attribute the sound on the new recording to?

JM: I think it is both. I definitely spent a lot of the money we earned from the first record on recording equipment and also I learned how to record during the first record so now I am a little more knowledgeable about the process.

MS:: You have been playing with the same musicians since 1992 right?

JM: That includes the time that we were in Flake. I tend to differentiate between the two because I started The Shins as a side project while we were in Flake and the Shins really started in 1996. It included people who were not in Flake, like Dave Hernandez who was pretty much in The Shins from the get go but not in Flake.

MS: How do you attribute the recent success of the band? The Shins are a band that upon hearing them for the first time it feels like you have always known the music. An instant old favorite. It is so different then anything out there but almost has this universal warmth to it. Where do you think that quality comes from?

JM: Thanks! I don't know really. The album is very carefully written and recorded.

MS: The band was started during the whole grunge explosion and you can hear those influences but there is something that resonates an almost timeless quality. What were your other influences in starting The Shins?

JM: I think The Shins were heavily influenced by the late New Wave stuff that I listened to during high school. I was really into Echo and the Bunnymen and The Cure and The Smith's and shit like that.

MS: The Shins music almost has a 60's pop feel to it too?

JM: Well yeah, that is the other side of it. I love a lot of the pop music from the early 60's. I love Sam Cooke and Buck Owens. I love that real traditional style of writing and then the psychedelic stuff from that era as well. So it is kind of a mishmash of all that.

MS:: You just blend it so well together. It is remarkable. Do you think that this album will be bigger for you than Oh Inverted World?

JM: I think it will probably sell better to begin with then it depends on how well the record is received. Right off the bat I think it is going to be a bigger record but I think it needs to have it's own legs too and we have yet to determine if that is the case.

MS:: I hope it gets the attention it deserves. What if it becomes this huge success and catapults you into super rock stardom? How would you handle that?

JM: I guess I would get the old 12-gauge out. I don't know. I was such an introvert and had such a simple life two and a half years ago before the first record came out and there have been a lot of changes since then and I am amazed that I have handled them this far.

MS: What was your life like back then? Where were you working?

JM: I was working in a ceramic light factory in Albuquerque. We were making wall sconces and I was carving stuff in ceramics. It was a total factory job.

MS: The band was playing around Albuquerque did you have a following around town?

JM: Not really, because there just isn't that much of a scene there. The only bands that had followings were more of the Frat Rock bands.

MS: How did you first start playing music? What was the first song that you learned how to play?

JM: The first song that I learned how to play was "God Save the Queen" by The Sex Pistols on guitar. Which is pretty damn easy to play. I was pretty old when I learned how to play though, like 17.

MS: Who bought you your first guitar?

JM: My parents did for X-mas of my 17th year. It was a cheap Fender Squire.

MS: Are they happy and relieved to see that you have gained success with music?

JM: Oh yeah, they are super happy. I definitely wasn't a hugely successful young man and so to have this music stuff work out now they are really proud. They are my biggest fans.

MS: What do they think of the new record?

JM: They love it. They loved the first record. With the new one they keep switching back and forth between liking it more than the first record and thinking it is just as good.

MS: How did you meet with all of the guys in the band?

JM: Originally Marty and Jesse and I were in a band called Flake and that we just started in Albuquerque with this really good friend of mine named Neal Langford, who actually used to be in the Shins for awhile and we just really wanted to start a band. So Neal and I found Jesse through friends and then Marty the same way.

MS: You said that there wasn't much of a scene in Albuquerque was it hard to find people to play music with?

JM: Basically we found friends who then would see if they had the ability to learn to play an instrument. So it was a really rudimentary sort of arrangement. It wasn't like you hooked up with a bunch of bands and then "Oh, let's get the lead guitarist from this band and the drummer from this one." It is basically just learn how to play your instruments together. Sometimes your friends can't play and then you have to tell them which sucks.

MS: How many members did you go through before you settled on a lineup?

JM: Like 3 people that we started up with but just didn't work out. It was something different for each person; for some people rhythm is a hard thing. Some people it is remembering the parts.

MS: Are you still friends with the people that didn't work out?

JM: Yeah actually really good friends with two of them. There were no hard feelings.

MS: You Just moved to Portland from Albuquerque right?

JM: About 2 years and one month ago.

MS: What brought you to Portland?

JM: All of my friends were living up here. Basically I woke up one morning and realized that I didn't have any friends living in Albuquerque any more. Some of my closest friends had moved here and I thought it would be a good place. The band also started taking off so I had a bit more freedom to quit my job.

MS: The band members are a little spread out now is it hard to have everyone in a different state?

JM: Marty our keyboardist lives in Albuquerque, Jessie lives in Portland with me and Dave Hernandez lives in Seattle, Dave Hernandez who was in Scared of Chaka, he was the original bass player and just rejoined the band. We just kind of work out the long distance thing. Marty will fly up here a couple of weeks before we go on tour or start recording or whatever. The distance doesn't really affect us that much because it is like a $150 plane ticket or whatever, so in the larger scheme of things it doesn't hurt too badly.

MS: Since you have moved to Portland and the album has come out have you been recognized at all?

JM: Yeah a little bit that has happened a few times because we have played a bunch here and stuff I guess.

MS: Have you ever been recognized out of context like when you went to go pickup your dry cleaning or something?

JM: I was once recognized at the Best Buy. The strangest time though was when I was recognized by a girl at a strip club. You know you can't meet girls at strip clubs, they are at work.

MS: Portland is that type of place though, you could actually meet a girl at a strip club and it wouldn't be out of the ordinary.

JM: I don't know that is totally unique in my experience, it's great though.

MS: What is your favorite thing about Portland?

JM: I guess it would be that thing about the strip clubs, they have this comfortable air. They don't have the same sort of seediness. They play great music up here like at Magic Gardens. It is awesome, beautiful girls and wonderful music. Besides the strip clubs there are a lot of cool bars and clubs and the neighborhoods are really neat. There are a lot of inner city type old residential areas. It is great.

MS: SuicideGirls was started in Portland had you heard of the site before? Are you a member?

JM: Not yet but I would like to be.

MS: No problem, A lot of the girls are big fans.

MS; I was reading your press kit and your bio was written by Elyse Sewell from America's top model how did that come about?

JM: Yeah she is Marty's girlfriend. She would be a perfect SuicideGirl, I should get her in touch with you guys.

MS: That would be great! She so should have won that show.

JM: Of course she was the prettiest and the smartest. She would totally get SuicideGirls and be into it. I will get her in touch.

MS: Are you going to be touring much to support the new album?

JM: Yes, We are going to be touring through November. Then we are going to Australia for December then we will work something else out for the spring.

MS; What is your best touring story?

JM: We try to keep it as chill as possible on tour. We have had our share of problems with the tour van and stuff but as far as groupies go we have never had any naked girls waiting for us at the bus or anything.

MS: Who is your favorite band to tour with?

JM: Probably Track Star. They are just really fun guys. Easy to get along with and hilarious.

MS: How did you end up on Sub Pop?

JM: We had played some shows in Texas with Modest Mouse and Isaac and also Zeke who used to be in a band called Love As Laughter who used to be on Sub Pop. Zeke and Isaac both kind of pushed us on Jonathan Poneman at Sub Pop and got us signed. We had burned a CD of our own shit that I had recorded in my bedroom and Jonathan liked it so you know.

MS: What is next for The Shins? World Domination?

JM: I think we are doing well right now and if we can maintain where we are at I would be more than happy. If it got really crazy then we would have to have a lot of obligations that would be hard to live up to. Like we would have to get a manger. Right now we just deal with the label and I do all of the accounting myself.

MS: Wow that is pretty impressive.

JM: Well you haven't seen my desk and my kitchen table it is crammed with stuff from the lawyers and bills and stuff.

MS: Any parting words of wisdom?

JM: Keep track of all your mail because otherwise they will steal your identity.